8 Idioms with "HAVE" in English

Hi. I'm Rebecca from www.engvid.com. In today's lesson, we'll learn eight idioms which have

the word "have" in them. Okay? Now, of course, an "idiom" is an expression where the overall

meaning is something different from the individual words that are included in that expression.

Okay? So let's have a look at these idioms.

The first one, "Bill has a sweet tooth." "Bill has a sweet tooth?" What does that mean? He

has a tooth that's sweet? No. Remember; it's an idiom, so it has a different meaning. Have

you ever heard anyone using this? Well, if you say that someone has a "sweet tooth",

it means that he or she likes to eat sweet things, likes desserts, likes chocolates,

likes anything sweet. Okay? And maybe a little too much. So that's the expression "to have

sweet teeth." All right.

Let's go to the next person. "Susan has a heart of gold." Okay. So what does that mean?

Again, don't take the meaning literally. It doesn't actually mean that; it means something

else. When you say that someone has a "heart of gold", it means that that person is very

kind, is very generous, is very helpful. Okay? A really good person. All right? So there

we are.

Let's go to the next one. "John has a good head on his shoulders." "John has a good head

on his shoulders." Okay. What do you mean, "good head on his shoulders"? Of course, you

have a head on your shoulders, right? Yes, but it's an idiom, remember. Okay. So when

you say that somebody has a "good head on their shoulders", it means that they're very

sensible; they're clever; they're intelligent. Okay? So it's kind of like they have a good

brain. They think well. Okay? So that's what it means to "have a good head on your shoulders".

Let's go to the next one. "Angela has her hands full." "Her hands are full" means that

she's very busy. Okay? Because you're always doing something, in other words. She's very

busy. So before we go on to the other four, let's review the first four.

So who is very kind and helpful, generous? Who has a heart of gold?

Susan. Okay? Now,

what does it mean -- or which idiom can we use to say that somebody really likes to eat desserts?

You have to say that somebody has a sweet tooth. Good. If you want to say that

somebody's very intelligent, very clever, which idiom can you use? You can say that

they have a good head on their shoulders. And if you want to say that somebody is very

busy, you can say

that they have their hands full. You want to use it for yourself, you

can say, "I'd love to help you, but I'm really sorry. I have my hands full." " I have my

hands full" means, "I'm very busy right now. I'm very busy with a lot of other things,

so I can't help you." Okay?

Next. All right. Let's look at the next four. "Steven has eyes in the back of his head."

"Steven has eyes in the back of his head." What does that mean? How can you have eyes

on the back of your head? What could that possibly mean? Well, it means that you know

what's happening around you as if you had eyes in the back of your head. Obviously,

you don't. But when we say this, what we're trying to say is somebody knows everything

that's happening even though you don't know how they know it, but they know what's going

on. So, "He has eyes in the back of his head". Okay?

Next. Now, of course, you see that I'm changing it, right? If we're talking about a man like

Steven and we say, "He has eyes in the back of his head." If it is Angela, then, we'd

say, "Angela has eyes in the back of her head." And that goes for all of these, okay? Whenever

there's a "his", "her". If it was about me, "I have my hands full." "You have your hands

full." Etc. okay?

Next. "Barbara has a big mouth." Oh, no. That's not good. What's going on with Barbara? Does

it mean she physically has a big mouth? No. Not necessarily. When we say that someone

has a "big mouth", it means they like to gossip; they like to talk a lot; they like to tell

secrets; and they just like to talk a lot. So don't tell your secrets to Barbara. Won't work.

Next. "Mark has a green thumb." So first of all, what's a "thumb"? This is a thumb, right?

This is your thumb. What does it mean to have a "green thumb"? Any idea? Okay. So "green"

has to do with plants and so on. So if someone has a green thumb, you're saying that he is

very good with plants, is very good at gardening. Okay? And things grow well when he plants

them. Okay? He's very good at that. He has that skill.

Okay. And the last one about Julia, "Julia has her head in the clouds." "Julia has her

head in the clouds." What does that mean? Well, if you have your "head in the clouds",

it means you're really -- you're somewhere else; you're not paying attention to anything

that's happening around you because you're thinking about something else. So Julia's

not paying attention to what's happening here. It's the opposite of Steven who has eyes in

the back of his head, right? Julia has her head in the clouds. She's always thinking

about something else. Maybe when you talk to her, she's not paying attention; she's

not really listening. Why? Because she has her head in the clouds. Okay?

So let's go over the last four, and then, we can review them all. Okay. So if you say

that someone has a "big mouth", it means they like to gossip, tell secrets. Right. If someone

is really good at gardening, you could say they have a "green thumb". Right. Okay. Someone

who is not paying attention, and you're telling them things and -- you don't know. They're

not there. What can you say? "They have their head in the clouds." And someone who seems

to know everything that's happening around them is --

we can say that "they have eyes in the back of their head." Okay?

So let's review all of them now. Okay? Who is really smart? Which name here? Who is really

smart, really intelligent? Okay? Who's that?

That's John because John has a good head on his shoulders. Good.

Okay. Who likes to gossip? Which one of these people likes to gossip, likes to tell people's

secrets? That's Barbara. Okay? Let's mark these off.

Who really enjoys sweets and desserts, cakes, and all that kind of stuff? Who's that? Where

is it? Well, it's our friend Bill, here. Okay? Bill has a sweet tooth. Good.

Okay. Who's really good at growing plants and flowers and gardening? Okay? Who's that?

Did you find it?

It's Mark. Mark has a green thumb. Right? That's a way to say it.

Okay. Who's a very busy person? Who's that? Let's see.

It's Angela. Angela has her hands full. Okay? All right?

Who is always thinking about something else, not really paying attention to what's happening

here? Who's that? What's left to choose?

It's Julia. Okay? Good. And who knows everything

that's happening even though you don't even know how they know everything? You're like,

"How did you know that, man? Do you have eyes in the back of your head?"

Okay. That's Steven.

Right? Very good. And the last one that's left is Susan. Susan has a heart of gold,

which means that Susan's a really sweet, good, kind-hearted person. She has a good heart.

She's helpful. Okay? That's Susan.

So these eight idioms all start with the word "have", "has", right? Plus a part of the body

you'll see, sort of, like, a tooth, a heart, a head, hands, eyes, mouth, thumb, and head

again. All right? So a little bit -- something in common there. But again, an idiom, you

just have to learn it as a whole. You have to learn it overall what the meaning is. Don't

try to analyze it because it doesn't usually help you. Okay? If you want to practice these

idioms, what you should do -- please go to our website, www.engvid.com, and there you

can do a quiz on these idioms and more. And also, subscribe to my channel so you can keep

on learning English. Bye, for now.